Legendary Lodge

This was the first year for Brendan to be able to go to camp at Legendary Lodge, the camp run by the Diocese of Helena.  It was a weird week for me to have him gone and not be able to contact him.  He had a great time and when I picked him up on Friday, he looked exhausted, a sure sign of having fun.  He was so tired in fact, that his bag of dirty laundry was forgotten and got to spend an extra couple of days at camp.  Pictures (taken by Brendan with a disposable camera) pending getting them developed.

Hank the Cowdog

If you have never read any of the Hank the Cowdog books, I encourage you to do so, whether you have kids at home or not.  Reading these books together will be one of my favorite memories of my kids' childhood.  I read to them and now Brendan is old enough to read to us.  It's great to have something to laugh out loud about with your kids!

Working So Hard

Karl had the task of fertilizing the lawn.  A long and boring job.  So he decided some refreshment was in order.

Haircuts!

The straw that broke the camel's back came one morning as I tried to do Rita's hair.  She has told me over and over "I want Tangled hair", which means she wants long flowing hair like Rapunzel in the movie, Tangled.  However, she does not want to sit still to have her hair wrestled into some semblance of neatness.  Every morning we battled and I would get compliance only after I told her "if you don't want your hair done, then we need to get it cut".  This would buy me just enough time to get a ponytail.  Her hair is so whispy and thin that within minutes she would again look like an orphan. 

So, one morning we were having the battle of the hair and the straw came.  Rita cried at first but actually didn't fuss at all during the haircut.  This isn't the greatest picture.  Her hair looks cute and sassy and matches her personality.  While we were at the salon (OK, it was Great Clips :) ), Brendan decided to cut his mop.  He looks so different without that wild hair!  Great for summer though.

Redneck Garden Party

Sad state of affairs that my kids used garbage to play their pretend game!

Soccer Season Summary

We ended the season with two tournaments.  A two day tournament in Kalispell called "Three Blind Refs" and a one day tournament in Missoula.  The boys were used to winning up until that point, having played only local teams.  They weren't so fortunate in the last two and lost all six games.  Apparently some of the parents were upset by this.  We were very happy with the season and our coach, Miles.  Our goals for Brendan were that he improve his soccer skills and learn to be coached.  So for us it was a successful season.

The weekend of Three Blind Refs Tournament was cold and rainy, perfect Irish soccer weather.  Missoula was sunny and warm.  We stayed in a hotel that is popular with traveling sports teams and has water slides inside.  We got to know some of the other soccer parents and saw some old friends from St. Mattew's who were in town for baseball tournaments.
 

Invention Convention

Brendan and his friend, Bridger, entered the Invention Convention that took place in May.  They spent about 8 weeks getting ready for the event.  They invented a geography board game called "Journey to Hawaii" and came in third place overall.  Nice job boys!